Q-53 Radar Upgrade Counters Drone Strikes

2016-11-22

The US Army has awarded a $27.8 million contract to Lockheed Martin to provide quick reaction capability to the counter-unmanned aerial system (UAS) on the AN/TPQ-53 radar system, also called the Q-53.

Rick Herdoes, Q-53 radar system program director, said “Thanks to open architecture and flexible designs, with simple software modifications and hardware additions, Lockheed Martin can adjust the Q-53 radar system to meet multiple missions. That means Q-53 can provide surveillance and UAV detection, in addition to its core counter-fire mission–making it a true simultaneous multi-mission system.”

Prior to this development, the solid-state phased array radar system only functioned as a counter target acquisition system. Adding the anti-UAS capabilities and having both capacities operating simultaneously will significantly enhance the Army’s air surveillance capabilities.

The system deployed earlier this year as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. According to Col. John Rafferty, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon in July, the radar proved “exceptionally reliable” to his unit while they were deployed in Iraq.

It replaces the aging AN/TPQ-36 and AN/TPQ-37 medium-range radars the Army currently uses. The Q-53 mounts onto a five-ton truck, or prime mover, that increases battlefield mobility and adaptability. It only needs four soldiers to operate, while the older systems require six and twelve soldiers, respectively.

Lockheed first successfully demonstrated the radar’s ability to simultaneously identify and track unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and incorporate counter target acquisition at the recent U.S. Army Maneuver-Fires Integrated Experiment held at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Work will be performed in Syracuse, New York, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 2018. $4 million in Army funds were obligated at the time of the award. The contracting activity is the Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

Australia’s Department of Defence has established “revised operating procedures” for small unmanned aircraft, an action that follows a U.S. Army directive to its units in August to stop using drones manufactured by China’s DJI because of “cyber vulnerabilities.”

Chinese company Tengoen unveiled a series of armed reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at the 14th China–ASEAN Expo in Nanning from 12 to 15 September, including two fixed-wing and two vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAVs.

The newly announced Intel Insight Platform is a cloud-based data processing, analytics and reporting service that allows customers to store, share, and manage the rich data that commercial drone systems provide.

The AUDS counter-UAS defence system has been enhanced for deployment on military and commercial security and surveillance vehicles and with new technology to more effectively defeat swarm attacks by malicious unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), including long-range winged drones.

Wildlife management is getting a little more scientific. Saxon Remote Systems, a manufacturer of unmanned aerial systems in McPherson, is flying into the market with technology to make current wildlife management methods easier and more precise.

Microsoft is already thinking about self-flying airplanes. The tech giant tested such technology in Hawthorne, 130 miles south of Reno, last week with the help of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems.

RADA Electronic Industries Ltd. has announced it had received a strategic first order for dozens of Multi-Mission Hemispheric Radars (MHR) from the US Military. Totalling over $8 million, this order will be delivered during 2017.

The Peruvian Air Force’s (FAP, per its Spanish acronym) Project Research and Investigation Center (CIDEP, per its Spanish acronym) was created in 1993 to develop flight simulators for Cessna A-37 aircraft.

Reports

A host of new users is changing the world of commercial aviation thanks in large part to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) small unmanned aircraft rule, Part 107 (PDF), which has now been in place for a year.